What was the worst Vex IQ rip off you've ever seen

Chit-Chat / Rumor Mill
#1

I’ve seen bad rip offs before. What was the worst you’ve seen. “:disappointed:”

#2

Legos with motors :sweat_smile:

6 Likes
#3

Xd that rly is a ripoff :smiley:

#4

Legos has a better system than Vex IQ change my mind

8 Likes
#5

Better system but a worse competition.

14 Likes
#6

Sounds about right

(For the record i like both)

4 Likes
#7

Pretty postive that lego robotics was a thing before vex.

1 Like
#8

Correct, in fact the LEGO / Logo was developed in partnership with the MIT Media Lab where they ran robot competitions during winter sessions around the same time FRC started.

Here is a brief history of MIT’s 6.270 robot competition:
http://6.270.scripts.mit.edu/~6.270/about/history.shtml

4 Likes
#9

Yep, here’s a really rough timeline of some robotics events:

~1989: FIRST robotics appears (FRC/high school program)
~1998: FIRST Lego League (FLL) appears
~2004: Inovation First Inc (IFI, the parent of VEX) works with Radio Shack and VEX Robotics appears as the “FIRST VEX Challenge.”
~2006: Radio Shack dumps VEX products, and IFI buys the full rights to it and VEX Robotics as it’s own company starts.
~2008: FIRST VEX Challenge is renamed FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), and FIRST dumps VEX robotics to use the Tetrix (Pitsco) robotics building kit. (Tetrix is related to Lego, by the way. Makes one wonder if FIRST was forced into using the unpopular Tetrix kit by Lego…)
~2008: IFI launches the VEX Robotics Competition (VRC), independent of FIRST Robotics.
~2012: VEX-IQ is launched to expand VEX Robotics into elementary school age.

12 Likes
Vex better than Lego?
#10

And really positive that on the metal side that the A.C. Gilbert Erector Set (from 1914) and the Mecanno line (from 1898) predate the VEX metal. I can’t say for the VEX leadership, but I had both when I was growing up.

On the plastic side, I had a cool Kenner toy that had plastic I beams and panels that let you build realistic sky scrapers. The Fischertechnik line of building things was very cool, my oldest son and I built a ton of things out of it. When I worked at Fisher Price Toys, I was able to get Construx building parts on a very cheap employee discount. We built towers as tall as 6 feet on a regular basis. Like IQ they were super sturdy. Finally, the kids next door had K’nex toys and thousands of parts. They could fill their living room with a giant coaster.

So @Thatdude186 maybe the thread title should be “What toys did the engineers at VEX have to inspire them to create a much better ERD and VIQ system?” After all “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants” is something we all do. :slight_smile:

6 Likes
#11

You’re missing one very important bullet point. I fixed that for you.

14 Likes
#12

This little beauty is a pretty brazen ripoff of the VIQ line :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#13

23 Likes
Scavenger hunt
#14

Nah, don’t worry about it. It is only your animated gif memes that are so last decade.

You are still young in heart and by playing leading by example with JRow’s toddler toys will soon be young in mind too.

And, speaking of toys, I would love VEX to rip off Lego’s idea of the themed mini figures for IQ.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to find under the Xmas tree a full set of GDC member mini figures?

Then, the next time GDC rules something like this, that totally ruins my idea of a gyro stabilized unicycle robot with three 8" 15,000 RPM “CPU fans”, I could start dipping Grant Cox’ mini figure in ketchup and ranch dressing bowls until I feel avenged.

21 Likes
#15

Holy cow. I loved this post until you reached the end. Now I feel both nauseated, and full of doubt as to your true identity.

8 Likes
#16

I would love to have an enhanced set of VEX mini-scientist and engineers. I like the space ones with stickers that say Sally and Buzz. I’d like to see more of them in different colors / outfits. But I’d settle in just being able to buy some of the current space heroes al la carte. (Umm VEXHeros ™ has a nice ring to it)

Condiment

I’ll pass on the ranch dressing / condiment discussion since the perfect condiment is clearly Blue Cheese dressing with some Franks Hot sauce to give that “Buffalo Wing” sensation. And maybe celery / carrots vs Action Figures :roll_eyes:

4 Likes
#17

Ummmm we have Sammy. Who btw is amazing I have like 6

6 Likes
#18

Well, VEX IQ is, in sense, a “ripoff” of LEGO technic/robotic systems.

#19

Geez I didnt expect to actually get fact-checked :sweat_smile:

1 Like
#20

  1. Bonus feature of the forum. Not much spell or grammar checks happening, so fact check is our thing.

  2. Happy :cake: day!!

6 Likes